Why Driving is Stressful

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Driving in traffic routinely involves events and incidents. Events are
normal sequential maneuvers such as stopping for the light, changing lanes, or braking.
Incidents are frequent but unpredictable events. Some of these are dangerous and
frightening, like near-misses, while others are merely annoying or depressing, like
missing one's turn or being insulted by a motorist. Driving events and incidents are
sources of psychological forces capable of producing powerful feelings and irrational
thought sequences. Driving is a highly dramatic activity that millions of people perform
on a routine daily basis. The drama stems from high risk and unpredictability. Driving has
two conflicting structural components--predictability and unpredictability. Both are
present all of the time. Predictability, like maintaining steady speed in one's lane,
creates safety, security, and usually escape from disaster. Unpredictability, like
impulsive lane changes without signaling, creates danger, stress, and often crashes. For
many people driving is linked to the value of freedom of locomotion. On the one hand they
get into cars and drive off where they please, the very symbol of freedom and
independence. But on the other hand, as they are ready to leave, they encounter
restrictions and constrictions that prevent them from driving as they wish.

The
following list identifies 15 widely known conflicting aspects of driving that act as
stressors. They are emotional challenges that are common occasions for expressing
hostility and aggressiveness on roadways.

Immobility
Most of the body during driving remains still and passive, not like walking where the
entire body exerts effort and remains continuously active. Tension tends to build up when
the body is physically restricted and constricted

Constriction
Motor vehicles are restricted to narrow bands of highway and street lanes. In congested
traffic, one's progress is inevitably going to be continuously blocked by numerous other
cars. Being thwarted from going forward when you expect to, arouses the emotion of
restriction and constriction, and along with it, anxiety and the desire to escape from the
constriction. This anxiety and avoidance prompts drivers to perform risky or aggressive
maneuvers that may result in mishaps.

Regulation
Driving is a regulated activity, which means that government agencies and law enforcement
officers get to tell drivers how fast to drive where, and how. Cars and trucks have
powerful engines capable of going faster than what is allowed--ever. Drivers are punished
for violating these regulations which they are responsible for knowing and obeying. This
imposition, though lawful and necessary, arouses a rebellious streak in many people, which
then allows them to regularly disregard whatever regulations seem wrong to them at the
time or in the mood they are in.

Lack of control
Traffic follows the laws that govern flow patterns like rivers, pipes, blood vessels, or
streaming molecules. In congested traffic, the flow depends on the available spaces around
the cars, as can be ascertained from the view of a traffic helicopter, or from a bridge
above the highway. When one car slows down, hundreds of other cars behind run out of space
and must tap their brakes to slow down or stop altogether, as in gridlock. No matter how
one drives, it's not possible to beat the traffic waves, whose cause or origin starts
miles from where we are. This lack of control over what happens is frustrating, stress
producing, and tends to lead to venting one's anger on whoever is around--another driver,
a passenger, pedestrian, construction worker, government officials.

Being put in danger
Cars are loved by their owners and they are expensive to fix. Even a scratch is stress
producing because it reduces the car's value and is expensive to repair. Congested traffic
filled with impatient and aggressive drivers creates many hair-raising close calls and
hostile incidents within a few minutes of each other. Physiological stress is thus
produced, along with many negative emotions--fear, resentment, rage, helplessness, bad
mood, and depression.

Territoriality
The symbolic portrayal of the car has tied it to individual freedom and self-esteem,
promoting a mental attitude of defensiveness and territoriality. Motorists consider the
space inside the car as their castle and the space around the car as their territory. The
result is that they repeatedly feel insulted or invaded while they drive, lulling them
into a hostile mental state, even to warlike postures and aggressive reactions to routine
incidents that are suddenly perceived as skirmishes, battles, or duels between drivers.
For many motorists, driving has become a dreaded daily drudge, an emotional roller coaster
difficult to contain and a source of danger and stress.

Diversity
There are about 200 million licensed drivers in North America today, and they represent a
diversity of drivers who vary in experience, knowledge, ability, style, and purpose for
being on the road. These social differences reduce our sense of predictability because
drivers with different ability and purpose don't behave according to the expected norms.
The peace and confidence of motorists is shaken by events that are unexpected, and driving
becomes more complex, more emotionally challenging. Diversity or plurality increases
stress because it creates more unpredictability.

Multi-tasking
The increase in dashboard complexity and in-car activities like eating, talking on the
phone, checking voice e-mail, challenge people's ability to remain alert and focused
behind the wheel. Drivers become more irritated at each other when their attention or
alertness seems to be lacking due to multi-tasking behind the wheel. Multi-tasking without
adequate training increases stress by dividing attention and reducing alertness.

Denying our mistakes
Driving is typically done by automatic habits compiled over years, and this means that
much of it is outside people's conscious awareness. Typically drivers tend to exaggerate
their own "excellence," overlooking their many mistakes. When passengers
complain or, when other drivers are endangered by these mistakes, there is a strong
tendency to deny the mistakes and to see complaints as unwarranted. This denial allows
drivers to feel self-righteous and indignant at others, enough to want to punish and
retaliate, adding to the general hostility and stress level on highways.

Cynicism
Many people have learned to drive under the supervision of parents and teachers who are
critical and judgmental. We dont just learn to manipulate the vehicle; we also
acquire an over-critical mental attitude towards it. As children we're exposed to this
constant judgmental behavior of our parents who drive us around. It's also reinforced in
movies portraying drivers behaving badly. This culture of mutual cynicism among motorists
promotes an active and negative emotional life behind the wheel. Negative emotions are
stress producing.

Loss of objectivity
Driving incidents are not neutral: there is always someone who is considered to be at
fault. There is a natural tendency to want to attribute fault to others rather than to
self. This self-serving bias even influences the memory of what happened, slanting the
guilt away from self and laying it on others. Drivers lose objectivity and right judgment
when a dispute comes up. Subjectivity increases stress by strengthening the feeling that
one has been wronged.

Venting
Part of our cultural heritage is the ability to vent anger by reciting all the details of
another individual's objectionable behavior. The nature of venting is such that it
increases by its own logic until it breaks out into overt hostility and even physical
violence. It requires motivation and self-training to bring venting under control before
it explodes into the open. Until it's brought under conscious control, venting is felt as
an energizing "rush" and promotes aggressiveness and violence. Nevertheless,
this seductive feeling is short-lived and is accompanied by a stream of anger-producing
thoughts that impair our judgment and tempt us into rash and dangerous actions. Repeated
venting takes its toll on the immune system and acts as physiological stress with
injurious effects on the cardio-vascular system (Williams and Williams, 1993).

Unpredictability
The street and highway create an environment of drama, danger, and uncertainty. In
addition heat, noise and smells act as physiological stress and aggravate feelings of
frustration and resentment. Competition, hostility, and rushing further intensify the
negative emotions. The driving environment has become tedious, brutish, and dangerous,
difficult to adjust to on the emotional plane.

Ambiguity
Motorists don't have an accepted or official gestural communication language. There is no
easy way of saying "Oops, I'm sorry!" as we do in a bank line. This allows for
ambiguity to arise: "Did he just flip me off or was that an apology?" It would
no doubt help if vehicles were equipped with an electronic display allowing drivers to
flash pre-recorded messages. Lack of clear communication between motorists creates
ambiguity, which contributes to stress.

Under-trained in emotional intelligence
Traditionally, driver education was conceived as acquainting students with some general
principles of safety, followed by a few hours of supervised hands-on experience behind the
wheel, or on a driving simulator. Developing sound judgment and emotional self-control
were not part of the training, even though these goals were mentioned as essential. Most
drivers today are untrained or under-trained, in cognitive and affective skills. Cognitive
skills are good habits of thinking and judgment. Affective skills are good habits of
attitude and motivation. Drivers thus lack the necessary coping abilities such as how to
cool off when angered or frustrated, or how to cooperate with the traffic flow and not
hinder it. This lack of training in emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1995) creates high
stress conditions for most drivers.

It is common to relate aggressiveness to social and environmental factors, in addition
to individual personality factors. For instance, congestion on highways and anonymity in
cars interact with faulty attitudes and inadequate coping skills to produce aggressive
traffic behavior under certain identifiable critical conditions. These apparent triggering
conditions are unpredictable, and involve symbolic meaning for the dignity or self-worth
of the interactants who may later report having felt insulted or threatened. It is part of
popular psychology to call these provocative and dramatic conditions "triggers"
as in, "It's not my fault. He provoked me. It's his fault. He made me do it."
The trigger theory of anger serves to absolve the perpetrator from some or all of the
responsibility for the aggression or violence. The attackers see themselves as the victims
through self-serving speech acts by which they escape culpability and opprobrium (Searle,
1969). It is common for road ragers to show no remorse for their assault and battery,
judging what they did as justified and deserved.

Why do we define driving while distracted as a form of
aggressive driving?

There is a tendency to think that multi-tasking while driving is the
cause of driver inattention or distraction. This belief leads to demands for new laws that
restrict or ban the use of in-car communication devices such as phones and computers. But
the correct argument is that multi-tasking can lead to driver distraction when drivers
haven't properly trained themselves to use the new car gadgets. This is true for older
devices like the familiar radio and CD as well as the new, like GPS, phones, and e-mail.
So it's true that multi-tasking becomes the occasion for drivers to make more mistakes,
when they fail to train themselves properly. This increased training is a joint
responsibility of the individual driver and the government.

Multi-tasking behind the
wheel is a matter of degree and all drivers are responsible for determining when they need
additional self-training activities. When drivers overstep this line, they become socially
and legally responsible. Drivers who allow themselves to be distracted by their
multi-tasking activities are increasing the risk factor for themselves and imposing that
dangerous limit on others--passengers, other drivers, pedestrians. This increased risk to
which others are subjected is thus similar to other driver behavior that are considered
aggressive and illegal: going through red lights, failing to yield, exceeding safe speed
limits, reckless weaving, drinking and driving, driving sleepy or drowsy, road rage, etc.

Driving with Emotional Fitness

The following chart helps to track your growth in emotional fitness as
you try to diagnose the various elements of your driving style and philosophy. For a
complete picture, keep track of three aspects of yourself as driver: feelings, thoughts,
and actions. Driving more intelligently is the result of positive feelings and right
thoughts coming together in effective actions.

At level 1 we're unfit to handle road exchanges because our feelings are oppositional
and negative, made worse by irrational thought patterns. The result of this deadly
combination is an impulsive, reckless, and hostile driving style. Most drivers operate
their vehicles at this lowest level of emotional intelligence some of the time, and many
drivers are in it most of the time. In this precarious mental state, it's easy to
interpret a traffic incident as a personal insult that encourages a bad mood and produces
other negative consequences. Being intolerant goes along with thinking irrationally about
other drivers because in any incident, they are always at fault while we excuse our own
mistakes. A self-serving bias interferes with the ability to be objective and logical. Our
surveys show that one in three motorists are oppositional drivers on a regular daily
basis. Two-thirds are oppositional to a lesser degree, and rare is the driver who claims
to be peaceful, tolerant, rational, and law abiding all the time, or even most of the
time.3 It's very useful to discover the elements of one's oppositional thinking.

Level 2--Defensive Driving

Defensive driving teaches motorists to concentrate on the safety of the vehicle, driver
and passengers. This preparedness philosophy helps reduce irrational decisions and
encourages more logical thought patterns, such as, "What would happen if..." and
"If I do that they'll respond with that..." As a result, actions are more
prudent than in level-1. However, a level-2 orientation has disadvantages because it
encourages a competitive environment on the road. As defensive drivers we can still
measure success competitively in terms of how fast we get there, how many cars we leave
behind, or how long we can coast without having to touch the brakes. Driving defensively
does not provide immunity to negative thoughts, to impatience and intolerance of the
faults of other drivers. While defensive driving is more mindful than oppositional
driving, it leaves us in a state of competition or suspicion.

Level 3--Supportive Driving

Level-3 driving overcomes the disadvantages inherent in oppositional and defensive
driving orientations. Supportive driving is a mental orientation that enables drivers to
manage other motorists and the traffic using a positive approach that avoids the built-in
negativity of oppositional and defensive driving styles. The key to acquiring a supportive
driving mentality is to practice prosocial thought patterns that promote helpful actions
and a benign demeanor. Supportive driving styles encourage us to be prudent and safe as
well as tolerant and friendly by focusing on the enjoyment of driving while remaining
unfazed by its hassles. Oppositional driving incorporates antisocial thought patterns,
while defensive driving incorporates negativity as a normal part of driving. Supportive
driving is a mental orientation that emphasizes the positive bias, opposite to the
automotive vigilante mentality. Instead of finding fault with the other driver, find an
excuse (e.g., "Look at that air head forgetting his blinkers on. Oh, I take it back.
Maybe he's really preoccupied, or confused. We all make mistakes, including me.
Etc."). The key in maintaining a supportive driving orientation is witnessing your
antisocial statements and immediately neutralizing them with prosocial statements. Do this
consistently and you become a supportive driver.

Review the contrasts between anti-social and prosocial driver orientations in the Chart
below, and explain the difference in each example. Show how they differ in terms of the
focus. For example, consider the first example: "They're bone heads!" is a
negative orientation, vs. "I'm feeling very impatient today!" is a positive
orientation because it accurately focuses on me and my feeling impatient today. The
negative focus is antisocial because it always wants to blame, punish, and retaliate. The
positive focus is prosocial because it is rational and objective and stays away from
aggressing against another. Try come up with an explanation for each of the other items:
Why one is subjective, false, and injurious while the other is objective, true, and
peaceful?

NEGATIVE & ANTI-SOCIAL

ORIENTATION

POSITIVE & PROSOCIAL

ORIENTATION

Focus on blaming others and
retaliating

Focus on self and how to cope

"They're bone heads!"

"I'm feeling very impatient today!"

"How can they do this to me!"

"I'm scared and angry!"

"They make me so mad when they do
this!"

"I make myself so mad when they do
this."

"I just want him to know how I feel!"

"It's not worth it."

"They better stay out of my way!"

"I need to recognize that everybody has to
get to their destination."

"How can they be so stupid talking on the
phone while driving!"

"I need to be extra careful around these
drivers."

The transformation from negative and aggressive driving to positive and supportive
driving is illustrated by the driver competence skills in the chart below. The
oppositional driving mode is a negative mental quagmire while the positive driving mode is
emotionally intelligent because motorists exert rational self-control. The actual words in
these examples may not fit your own style of thinking-to-yourself, but try to figure out
what each example stands for, and think of the words you would use in that frame of mind.

Defining Aggressive Driving

DEFINING THE COMPONENTS OF ROAD RAGE ANDAGGRESSIVE DRIVING

Transforming Negative to Positive

LEVEL OF
EMOTION

CULTURALLY
NEGATIVE HABITS

CULTURALLY
POSITIVE HABITS

1

COMPETITIVE DRIVINGleads to
ANNOYANCE
&
STRESS

VS.

SUPPORTIVE DRIVINGleads to
CALM
&
SATISFACTION

*feeling insulted and insulting others
*feeling competitive
*practicing selfism
*egocentrism
*acting with a defensive mentality
*expressing pessimism
*showing intolerance or being over-critical
*denigrating others
*involved in put-down symbolism (or deprecating others)
*feeling ignored
*being contentious
*viewing traffic as individual competition
*holding on to a sense of entitlement (or "I have the right to do what I want")
*thrill-seeking or looking for excitement
*insisting on driving at your level of control
*me first mentality
*individual focus vs. focus on group
*hating diversity
*self-serving bias

*being vindictive or cruel to others
*demeaning others
*being over-sensitive to provocation
*being prone to territorial fights or turf wars
*acting with ritual opposition
*following the law of the jungle
*feeling wronged
*feeling thwarted
*feeling being taken advantage of
*acting with habitual hostility
*maintaining an adversarial attitude
*being cynical (or expecting the worst of others)
*dehumanizing others
*prone to vehemence (or insistence)
*self-righteous criticizing (or indignation)
*accepting aggressiveness
*being coercive or wanting to enforce domination
*showing mutual disrespect
*approving of retaliation
*continues in a chain of errors while feeling pushed by the other
*approving of mental violence (or " just thinking about it")
*approving of vengeance
*insisting on punishing or retaliating
*practicing road vigilantism
* maintaining a status-seeking mentality
*suffering an erosion of inhibitions to violence
*giving in to social pressure to take excessive risks (party atmosphere in car)

*exercising freedom of choice
*showing mutual respect
*acting with compassion
*fair-minded
*making emotionally intelligent choices
*exercising self-restraint and self-control
*being able to turn down a challenge
*backs out of errors
*willing to forgive and forget
*refusing to demean others
*ignoring provocations
*recognizing that roads are for a wide diversity of people
*preferring a friendly atmosphere
*considerate of the legitimate rights of others
*disapproves of retaliation or vengeance
*rejects aggressiveness
*retains control of self and situation

3

ROAD RAGE
DRIVINGleads to
VIOLENCE
&
BREAKDOWN

VS.

RESPONSIBLE
DRIVINGleads to
ALOHA SPIRIT
&
COMMUNITY
BUILDING

*uncaring and willing to hurt others
*feeling alone and disconnected
*feeling alienated
*acting delusional or from fantasy
*acting on a lust for control
*acting recklessly with disregard for all others
*feeling depressed and worthless
*feeling violent or enraged and seeking an excuse to express it
*violentization through choice
*feeling depersonalized
*attached to reciprocal response leading to a chain of escalation
*general acceptance of violent behavior as normal
*excited by violent behavior
*failure oriented and acting self-destructively
*knee jerk desperateness
*refusing to back down no matter what
*feeling unable to stop
*reacting out of proportion to a provocation

Using Behavioral Language for Aggressive Driving Laws

More States are passing Aggressive Driving legislation. Some of the
language used to define the offense calls for subjective assessment by the officer of the
intent of the driver and the style of the driving. This kind of language is rated vague
because it allows errors of judgment due to field situations and the officer's attitudes.
Other language is strictly objective calling for visually observing the occurrence of some
behavior and the number of times it occurs. This kind of language is rated specific
because it is not influenced by the officer's attitudes and depends only on honesty and
professional accuracy. A review of the aggressive driving bills makes it evident that a
mixture of vague and specific language is used by most states. Here is a representative
sample. Legislators and law enforcement officials can use this Table to avoid using vague
language in their future bills or to amend existing ones.

committing
any two or more acts of aggressive driving within five consecutive miles

specific

Washington

failing
to obey traffic control devices

specific

Washington

passing
improperly

vague

Washington

stopping
on the roadway

specific

Virginia

operating
a vehicle in a threatening or intimidating manner with the intent to cause others to lose
control or be forced off the highway

vague

Virginia

operating
a vehicle with a reckless disregard for the rights of others or in a manner that endangers
any property or person

vague

Virginia

driving
too fast for conditions

vague

New
York

operating
a vehicle in such a manner as to place another in reasonable fear of physical injury or
death

vague

New
York

driving
with intent to harass, annoy or alarm another person in a manner contrary to law

vague

New
York

changing
lanes or speed in a manner that serves no legitimate purpose and creates a substantial
risk of injury or death to another

vague

New
York

intentionally
causing a collision

vague

Nebraska

driving
in a threatening or intimidating manner

following
too closely

vague

Nebraska

honking
the horn repeatedly

specific

Nebraska

pointing
a firearm or weapon while driving

specific

Maryland

drives a
motor vehicle in a deliberately discourteous, intolerant, and impatient manner that
evidences a pattern of dangerous conduct contributing to the likelihood of a collision or
necessitating evasive action by another driver of a motor vehicle to avoid a collision

vague

Maryland

is
convicted of four or more violations occurring at the same time or three violations with
one of the offenses being exceeding the speed limit by at least 30 mph.

specific

Illinois

creates
the offense of road rage for any person who intentionally drives a vehicle, with malice,
in such a manner as to endanger the safety or property of another

vague

Illinois

when the
violation results in great bodily harm or disfigurement to another and is a class 4 felony

specific

Illinois

operates
a vehicle carelessly or heedlessly in disregard for the rights of others, in a manner that
endangers or is likely to endanger any property or person, or committing three or more
traffic offenses

vague

Hawaii

operating
a vehicle in a contentious or antagonistic manner that endangers the safety of another or
of property

vague

Hawaii

operating
a vehicle while either the driver or a passenger is brandishing a firearm, or any object
similar in appearance, in such a manner as to reasonably induce fear in the mind of
another

specific

Hawaii

operates
a vehicle with a willful and wanton disregard for the life, limb or property of another

vague

Connecticut

driving
in a manner that evidences a pattern of dangerous conduct contributing to the likelihood
of a collision or necessitating evasive action by another operator of a motor vehicle to
avoid a collision.

vague

Connecticut

driving
recklessly

vague

Connecticut

failing
to stop when directed by a police officer

specific

Arizona

Drivers
could be charged with aggressive driving if they are cited for a combination of any three
of the following charges:

using excessive speed

driving recklessly

changing lanes erratically

being an immediate hazard to another person or
vehicle.

vague

Arizona

Drivers
could be charged with aggressive driving if they are cited for a combination of any three
of the following charges:

committing two or more listed offenses that include
failing to obey a traffic control device

passing on the right or on the shoulder

tailgating or following too closely

failing to signal lane changes or to change lane
properly

failing to yield the right-of-way

running a red light or stop sign

driving over the "gore" area entering or
exiting a highway

passing a vehicle on the right by traveling off the
pavement

specific

New
Jersey

An aggressive driver is anyone who operates a motor vehicle in an offensive,
hostile or belligerent manner, thereby creating an unsafe environment for the remainder of
the motoring public.

vague

New
Jersey

The
aggressive driver is identified through the following violations of traffic
regulations:

Speeding (breaking the speed limit)

Following Too Close (less than safe distance)

Driving While Intoxicated

Disregard Of Traffic Signs and Signals

Driving While Suspended

specific

New
Jersey

The
aggressive driver is identified through the following violations of traffic
regulations: